Patch Tuesday is right around the corner – July 9th, in fact – and this month’s patch is bringing several updates that warrant the “Critical” rating, which is Microsoft’s highest rating for update importance. Microsoft is giving IT administrators a heads up with a Security Bulletin Advance Notification that spells out the types of fixes and the software they affect.

The Critical vulnerability fixes are meant to prevent “remote code execution.” Malicious users can conceivably use these sorts of security vulnerabilities to hack Windows and other software, though the presence of a fix in a Patch Tuesday patch doesn’t necessarily mean that the hole is being exploited in the wild. Affected software includes Windows, Office, .NET Framework, and Silverlight, among others. Microsoft is also including an updated version of the Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool with this update. Microsoft is also offering a webcast on July 10, 2013 at 11:00 AM Pacific Time with information about the security bulletins.